Lucky and the Killer ✔

You Should be Scared

Curses were known to repeat themselves, and such as the nature of the universe, this generation wasn't any different. The curse seeped into him from the glowing birth mark—activated by the second moon. Zee's heart ran faster than he ever could, but he could hardly move.

"Let's stop here," he said to Lucky, and she nodded back at him. They'd already walked several blocks without so much as a trace of a portal of any kind. She really did suck at finding them. At least they were going in the right direction.

"Sure," she huffed as she sat down, cross-legged, on the damp grass. "You okay?"

"I don't think so," he said, and much like the increasing lights, sound seared inside his ears more prominently, too. "I can't even really hear."

"What? Why?" Lucky said as she pulled on his hand—beckoning him to sit.

"I don't know," he shook his head. "I feel so hot."

"Maybe you're getting sick."

"I...doubt it," he said. "I never get sick."

"Well," she sighed. "There's a first time for everything."

"You and I both know something's wrong."

Everything around Zee made his hands shake. He pulled the gun he'd picked up from back home into his lap. He'd never so much as shot one. He'd always had guards for that.

"He's got to be around here," Zee groaned.

"Stop," Lucky said and placed her hand on top of his. "Don't worry about him. I'm here now, aren't I?"

"Yeah," he said. "I just...feel like something bad is going to happen."

"I'll take care of you," Lucky smiled.

"Oh yeah?" he laughed as his arms shivered.

"Yeah," Lucky said. "I'm not completely useless."

"I don't know," Zee said.

"Gee, thanks," Lucky said back.

"That's not what I meant," Zee said. "Someting's just wrong."

"I know!" she said. "I just...don't know what."

"Father...would have a fit," Zee laughed.

"Yeah," Lucky giggled. "We weren't ever allowed to just wander off like this."

"We weren't allowed to even breathe wrong," Zee sighed. "He had good intentions."

"I guess," Lucky said into the shallow wind.

"The Second Moon is out at home," Zee said. "I should have asked him more. Learned from him, ya know. Something...so I'd know more about what's going on."

"I guess," Lucky whispered, but Zee didn't say anything back. So, she kept going. "Do you...do you think dad really...killed his own family to become emperor?"

"He never talked about it," Zee said. "Bringing it up...asking questions like that...would have gotten me killed way faster than a trip to Earth. So, he must have."

"But...dad wasn't the first emperor," Lucky continued. "Have people, our people, have they really been doing that? All this time? How can people just do that?"

"I imagine they want it bad enough," Zee said.

"Do you?"

"Lucky...of course not. I don't want anything to do with the Kingdom. I'm sick of everyone following me around, calling me 'Sir' like him, treating me like him. I'm just sick of it."